Regulators Approve Largest Solar Project in Wisconsin History

The Public Service Commission (PSCW) of Wisconsin has approved construction of a $2 billion solar power project that could have more than 1,300 MW of generation capacity. The Vista Sands Solar Project, sited on more than 6,000 acres in Portage County, was greenlighted by a unanimous vote of the PSCW on Dec. 12. Vista Sands as presently designed would be more than four times the size of the state’s largest current solar array, the 300-MW Badger Hollow Solar Park in the southwestern part of the state. The first phase of that solar farm entered commercial operation in late 2021. Vista Sands also is expected to have 300 MW of battery energy storage. The project, located near the towns of Plover and Grant in central Wisconsin, is being developed by Vista Sands Solar LLC, a subsidiary of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based Doral Renewables. Construction is expected to begin in 2026, with commercial operation expected in 2028 or 2029. Doral officials said they've had discussions with utilities that could buy power from the solar farm. Portage County is part of Wisconsin Public Service Corp.’s service territory; Wisconsin Power & Light and some electric cooperatives also have customers in the region, according to the PSC.

Agrivoltaic Installation

Wisconsin Public Radio reported that Vista Sands also would bring more than $6 million in annual utility aid payments to Portage County other areas around the project. It is an agrivoltaic development, with Doral leasing the land from the owners, who are mostly farmers. “We are thrilled with the approval of the Vista Sands Solar Project by the PSCW,” said Jon Baker, vice president of development at Doral Renewables and project manager for the Vista Sands Solar Project, in a statement. “This milestone marks an exciting new chapter for clean energy in Wisconsin.” Katie Nekola, general counsel for the nonprofit Clean Wisconsin, in a statement said the Vista Sands project represents the “biggest step toward curbing Wisconsin’s carbon emissions” in the state’s history. Quantum Energy in a report filed earlier this year with the PSCW said Vista Sands in its first year of operation would offset more than 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. “This is significant because Wisconsin cannot meet its carbon reduction goals or contain customer costs without acknowledging and indeed embracing the need to invest in the least-cost, cleanest generation available,” said Nekola. “Deployment of clean energy on this scale will do more to advance state energy policy than has any construction project in Wisconsin to date.” Summer Strand, chair of the PSC, told Wisconsin Public Radio that “This would be by far the largest solar project in the state of Wisconsin and one of the largest in the upper Midwest. This is one of the most beneficial and impactful renewable energy projects ever proposed in Wisconsin.” Doral Renewables is developing several renewable energy projects in the U.S., including the 1,300-MW Mammoth Solar installation in Indiana. The first phase of that project, the 400-MW Mammoth North, came online in October. —Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER.